Quote:
.Originally Posted by Manchild 
I feel crazy even asking this knowing that the source came from a Magnolia HT employee, but better to be safe than sorry.
The Magnolia HT employee commented that for any of their high-end installations they always run video sources straight to the display and audio only to the receiver/pre/pro (thus requiring sources to have multiple HDMI outputs) due to the video processors in these devices lifting black levels.
Any truth to this? I presume not, but figured I'd ask the people here that may have this unit as I'd like to utilize my forthcoming AVR/pre/pro to handle scaling, deinterlacing, and CMS (via ISFccc), but not at the expense of it lightening black levels.

I feel crazy even asking this knowing that the source came from a Magnolia HT employee, but better to be safe than sorry.
The Magnolia HT employee commented that for any of their high-end installations they always run video sources straight to the display and audio only to the receiver/pre/pro (thus requiring sources to have multiple HDMI outputs) due to the video processors in these devices lifting black levels.
Any truth to this? I presume not, but figured I'd ask the people here that may have this unit as I'd like to utilize my forthcoming AVR/pre/pro to handle scaling, deinterlacing, and CMS (via ISFccc), but not at the expense of it lightening black levels.
There is usually no harm in splitting the signal, and it is what you would want to do if you had better video processing in your monitor/projector or separate video processor than in the prepro. However, it gets a little complicated as far as video switching of multiple video sources is concerned, because switching is then done outside the prepro by monitor/projector or video processor and requires multiple HDMI runs to it or and possibly an audio return HDMI connection to the prepro. No big deal with a programmable remote, though. Maybe Best Buy likes it because they can then sell you some extra HDMI cables. There really is no degradation from using one HDMI cable for both audio and video, which is what gets transmitted in any case.
As it is, it's too complicated for me and of little value. Blu-ray is pass through and video processing/upscaling in my case is done by my Oppo for DVD's. The only thing the prepro upscales for me is broadcast TV, usually just from 1080i to 1080p. I would rather have the Integra do all the switching and simplify the connections and setup. Plus, the. Integra's video processing s pretty good. Getting back to Best Buy, most of what they sell is not as good as the Integra, and the monitor/projector might be better at video processing in their typical setup.
I notice also that the latest Oppos do not pass DSD from SACD on both HDMI outputs. Only the one with the inferior video processing will do it. So, that might force using the dual connection if you value DSD to the Integra, as I do. It is yet another reason for me not to upgrade to a 103.
























